March 2, 2025 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Christopher Bell gets second straight NASCAR Cup win

AUSTIN, Texas — Christopher Bell was prophetic.

After winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 23, Bell said 2.4-mile, 17-turn Circuit of Americas was a track he had circled for another potential victory.

Sure enough, after passing Kyle Busch for the lead and staving off defending race winner William Byron over the last five laps at COTA, Bell was a back-to-back winner in the Cup Series for the first time in his career, having claimed victory in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

Bell beat Byron to the finish line by 0.433 seconds, as the reigning Daytona 500 winner raced Bell cleanly over the closing laps. Pole winner Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Chase Elliott, who made a miraculous recovery from a Lap 1 spin in Turn 1 resulting in a broken toe link.

Busch fell to fifth on the final lap after side-to-side contact with Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota during the battle for the lead which took all the juice out of Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

The victory was Bell’s first at the Texas road course and the 11th of his career.

“Whenever Kyle was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious,” said Bell, who spun Busch’s car in Turn 1 in the 2024 race. “Obviously, we know what happened last year. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners just good enough that I couldn’t get inside of him.

“But there I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front. Whenever I did, I’m, like, ‘Okay, just don’t beat yourself.’ Those were about the five or six sloppiest laps I’ve ever run.

“Just super proud for everyone on this DeWalt No. 20 team. We didn’t count (on) last week. Last week was a speedway. We didn’t have that one circled. We definitely had this one circled. I’m ready to keep adding to it.”

Having pitted two laps earlier than Bell during the final cycle of green-flag stops, Busch, who led a race-high 42 laps, held a 2.6-second margin over Byron and a 4.0-second advantage over Bell on Lap 78 when Denny Hamlin locked his brakes into Turn 6a and knocked Austin Dillon’s Chevrolet into a gravel trap to cause the third and final caution.

Busch took command on the restart on Lap 83, but Bell had superior tires and an arguably superior car. With a run off Turn 20 on Lap 90, Bell had the lead before the cars reached the start/finish line. At the top of the Hill in Turn 1 on Lap 91, Byron followed into second place, and Reddick soon had third.

“Yeah, it was really close,” Byron said of his attempt to challenge Bell in the late going. “I felt like the battle between (Bell) and Kyle was just kind of sitting there waiting for one of them to bobble or slide their tires. Bell got by him. I felt like once he got clear, his car was super loose, and it kind of gave me a couple of shots at him, and I just couldn’t ever get beside him.

“We’ve always raced really well together, so I didn’t want to like move him blatantly and all that kind of stuff. Just sliding around a ton at the end… So just sucks to be so damn close, right? You can be on the bumper of the guy coming to the line, and that sucks. A lot of races ahead, and hopefully we can just keep bringing the speed.”

Busch rued both the inopportune caution and the effect of the tire disparity after the final restart.

“I wish we could have had a little bit more there at the end,” Busch said. “I feel like maybe the two-lap fresher tires the 20 had was the difference… But I also hated to see that yellow that came out.

“I felt like we had a little bit of a gap there that I was protecting my tires, and I could run the lines I wanted to run. I didn’t have to run defensive lines and use up my stuff even more so, (which I did) when the 20 was right on me.

“I’ll give Christopher credit, though, where credit’s due. He ran me really hard, and I was a complete butthead. But he did a great job working me over and just doing it the right way and being able to get by.”

Elliott fell to the back of the field when contact from Ross Chastain’s Chevrolet sent him spinning in the first corner of the first lap. When the majority of the field came to pit road before the end of the first stage, Elliott stayed on track to collect fifth-place stage points.

Pitting during the stage break to repair the toe link broken in the accident, Elliott restarted 36th and worked his way forward. Crew chief Alan Gustafson’s call for fresh tires during the final caution allowed Elliott to charge to fourth place.

“Yeah, it was just a crazy day, really,” Elliott said. “I got run over, I felt like, there in the first corner. I’m curious to see it. I still haven’t seen it to know whether or not I did something wrong. I’m happy to own it, if I did. I just felt like it was the first corner of the first lap, and it’s just a bummer to get behind, and then we had damage.

“Alan and the guys did a great job fixing it and getting it that close. We got behind on a restart there and just had to play major catchup there. Alan made a great call there at the end to put tires on it. We were rolling up through there really good at the end.

“Obviously, when you have a good car like that, I would have liked to have been in the fight with those guys, but it was a great recovery from where we were at during the end of the second stage.”

Shane van Gisbergen, Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10.

The Cup debut of 18-year-old road course phenom Connor Zilisch came to an early end in a violent collision with Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez on Lap 50.

Charging through Turn 19, Suárez’s Chevrolet bounced off the curbing and spun wildly as cars behind him scattered to avoid calamity. As Zilisch steered to the right, Suarez’s car spun into his path, and Zilisch plowed into his teammate and careened into the outside SAFER barrier.’

Both cars were too badly damaged to continue. The wreck ended a valiant rally by Zilisch, who was collateral damage when Chastain dive-bombed into Turn 1 and turned Elliott on the first lap.

Zilisch pitted with a flat tire and fell back to 33rd, but by the end of the second stage he had worked his way back to 14th, his original starting position. On the restart lap after the second stage break, however, Zilisch’s race ended against the fence.

“All I saw was a cloud of smoke, and by the time I saw him (Suárez), it was way too late to do anything,” said Zilisch, who won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA. “I saw him spinning off to the left and I thought he was going to keep going in that direction or stay there.

“I guess he flipped back right and he started coming towards me. Really unfortunate way to end my Cup Series debut. We were one of the top-five fastest cars in the second stage there. I went from outside the top 30 to 14th, and I felt really good about our Chevy. We made a lot of gains from practice and qualifying. It’s just an unfortunate way to end it.”


NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 3
Race Results for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix - Sunday, March 2, 2025
Circuit of The Americas - Austin, TX - 2.4 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 95 Laps - 228. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 3/2/2025 @ 07:36 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 19 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT Toyota 95  9 42 Running 2 8 5
2 15 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 95 9 7 41 Running 1 1
3 1 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Toyota 95 6  39 Running 2 9
4 3 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 95 5  39 Running  
5 8 8 Kyle Busch Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet 95 4 4 46 Running 6 42
6 6 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 95 3 5 45 Running 5 23
7 24 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 95   30 Running  
8 17 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 95   29 Running  
9 21 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 95   28 Running  
10 10 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 95   27 Running  
11 16 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge Chevrolet 95  3 34 Running 1 3
12 9 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light For the Love of Texas Chevrolet 95   25 Running  
13 4 77 Carson Hocevar Delaware Life Chevrolet 95   24 Running  
14 18 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 95   23 Running  
15 26 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 95   22 Running  
16 29 7 Justin Haley Group 1001 Chevrolet 95   21 Running  
17 31 35 Riley Herbst # Chumba Casino Toyota 95   20 Running  
18 22 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Rate Chevrolet 95   19 Running  
19 25 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Duracell Ford 95  2 27 Running  
20 2 23 Bubba Wallace Mobil 1 Toyota 95 1 8 30 Running 1 4 1
21 11 11 Denny Hamlin National Debt Relief Toyota 95   16 Running  
22 33 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 95   15 Running  
23 30 41 Cole Custer Haas/Bonanza Ford 95   14 Running  
24 23 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 95 2  22 Running  
25 36 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 95   12 Running  
26 35 21 Josh Berry Freightliner Ford 95   11 Running  
27 32 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 95   10 Running  
28 34 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 95   9 Running  
29 20 38 Zane Smith TitleMax Ford 95   8 Running  
30 12 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 95 10 6 13 Running 2 2
31 37 51 Cody Ware Arby's Ford 95   6 Running  
32 7 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 95 7  10 Running  
33 28 60 Ryan Preece BuildSubmarines.com Ford 95  1 14 Running 1 3 1
34 13 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 95   3 Running  
35 27 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 80   2 Accident  
36 5 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 50 8 10 5 Accident  
37 14 87 * Connor Zilisch(i) Red Bull Chevrolet 49   0 Accident  

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 7 Mins, 20 Secs. Average Speed: 73.025 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.433 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 23, 22, 88, 8, 9, 45, 5, 99, 24, 16
Stage 2 Top 10: 60, 12, 71, 8, 88, 16, 24, 23, 20, 99

Race Comments: Christopher Bell won the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, his 11th NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the green flag to start the race, the following car dropped to the rear for the reason indicated: No. 38 (unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 4 for 15 laps; Laps: 22-25 (Stage 1 Conclusion [10]); 47-49 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]); 51-54 (#87, 99 incident turn 19 [5]); 79-82 (#3, 11 incident turn 6A [5]).

Lead Changes: 20 among 9 drivers; T. Reddick 1-8; S. Van Gisbergen # 9-17; T. Reddick 18; B. Wallace 19-22; S. Van Gisbergen # 23-24; K. Busch 25; S. Van Gisbergen # 26; K. Busch 27-34; S. Van Gisbergen # 35-42; A. Allmendinger 43; R. Preece 44-46; M. McDowell 47-49; K. Busch 50-53; A. Allmendinger 54; K. Busch 55-68; C. Bell 69-70; S. Van Gisbergen # 71-73; K. Busch 74-81; W. Byron 82; K. Busch 83-89; C. Bell 90-95.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: March 9, 2025 - Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875


NASCAR Cup Series Points Report
Circuit of The Americas
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix

UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 3/2/2025 @ 07:47 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL

Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. William Byron 24 3 -1 116 0 0 1 0 5
2. Ryan Blaney 12 3 1 114 -2 2 0 1 1
3. Tyler Reddick 45 3 0 111 -5 3 0 0 0
4. Christopher Bell 20 3 -8 95 -21 16 2 0 10
5. Chase Elliott 9 3 -5 95 -21 0 0 0 0
6. Bubba Wallace 23 3 1 94 -22 1 0 1 1
7. Alex Bowman 48 3 -2 87 -29 7 0 0 0
8. Michael McDowell 71 3 -6 85 -31 2 0 0 0
9. Kyle Busch 8 3 -14 81 -35 4 0 0 0
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 3 2 80 -36 1 0 0 0
11. Austin Cindric 2 3 7 80 -36 0 0 0 0
12. Chris Buescher 17 3 -4 77 -39 3 0 0 0
13. Joey Logano 22 3 2 77 -39 0 0 1 1
14. John Hunter Nemechek 42 3 7 76 -40 1 0 0 0
15. Carson Hocevar 77 3 0 72 -44 4 0 0 0
16. Kyle Larson 5 3 10 71 -45 1 0 1 1
17. Denny Hamlin 11 3 4 67 -49 4 0 0 0
18. Shane Van Gisbergen # 88 3 -16 63 -53 4 0 0 0
19. Todd Gilliland 34 3 -3 63 -53 0 0 0 0
20. Ross Chastain 1 3 -1 62 -54 1 0 0 0
21. Riley Herbst # 35 3 3 60 -56 2 0 0 0
22. Erik Jones 43 3 5 56 -60 4 0 0 0
23. Justin Haley 7 3 -3 52 -64 4 0 0 0
24. Ty Dillon 10 3 5 48 -68 4 0 0 0
25. AJ Allmendinger 16 3 -2 43 -73 5 0 0 0
26. Brad Keselowski 6 3 -7 43 -73 0 0 0 0
27. Noah Gragson 4 3 -9 42 -74 1 0 0 0
28. Austin Dillon 3 3 8 41 -75 1 0 0 0
29. Daniel Suarez 99 3 4 38 -78 3 0 0 0
30. Ryan Preece 60 3 0 38 -78 0 0 1 1
31. Zane Smith 38 3 3 35 -81 3 0 0 0
32. Jimmie Johnson  1 8 34 -82 1 0 0 0
33. Josh Berry 21 3 2 34 -82 0 0 1 1
34. Cole Custer 41 3 -1 31 -85 3 0 0 0
35. Ty Gibbs 54 3 6 29 -87 2 0 0 0
36. Corey Lajoie  2 4 21 -95 8 0 0 0
37. Cody Ware 51 3 0 10 -106 11 0 0 0
38. Jj Yeley  1 0 1 -115 9 0 0 0
39. Martin Truex, Jr.  1 0 1 -115 0 0 0 0
40. Justin Allgaier(i)  1 0 0 -116 1 0 0 0
41. Bj Mcleod(i)  1 0 0 -116 0 0 0 0
42. * Connor Zilisch(i) 87 1 42 0 -116 0 0 0 0
43. Anthony Alfredo(i)  0 1 0 -116 0 0 0 0
44. Chandler Smith(i)  0 3 0 -116 0 0 0 0
45. Helio Castroneves  1 -1 0 -116 0 0 0 0
46. Chase Briscoe 19 3 1 -28 -144 28 0 0 -10

-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series